Tenant references - a landlord perspective

Maybe you should ask Matthew Adam

If I was a landlord I would check myself as well.

good credit and a some money in the bank is all you should be concerned about.... references do not mean much

Has anyone done a background check on Matthew Adam?

A little hint from a friend who has managed a rental bldg for years : Don't talk to the current landlord but the ones before that. The current landlord might tell you anything just to get rid of them!

I agree with NYCMatt and in part because I'm suspicious of people with two first names.

You yourself are people with two first names. Many many people, in fact. And not just two names, but also two faces.

Well frankly Alan Hart, I was curious about you, and so I did a Google search for you.
Do you really believe all that?

Gee, I wonder if there is only one person named Alan Hart, or not, anywhere.

There are many, far too many, of you.

I never trust a property manager about anything--or, if you prefer, trust and verify. Sometimes a good property manager will deteriorate over time because of personnel turnover. Also, I always make sure the tenants know how to email me; just send them a small housewarming gift (you should do that anyway. It works.) Property managers hate it when the tenants know how to get in touch with you; they'll say they want to protect your privacy. What they may want to protect is their incompetence and non responsiveness to your tenants. Remember, nobody cares more about your money and your assets than you do.

And as for tenant screening, there are only 3 things you really need to worry about: FICO, FICO, and FICO.

"I agree with NYCMatt and in part because I'm suspicious of people with two first names."

I'm suspicious of people with two LAST names.

Anderson Cooper. Campbell Brown. Or anybody in general who takes a classic surname and uses it as a first name (Brady, Harrison, Madison, etc.).

"And as for tenant screening, there are only 3 things you really need to worry about: FICO, FICO, and FICO."

No.
No.
And ... no.

We've been burned in the past with people who have high FICO scores but turned out to be irresponsible flakes. In the aftermath of the Great Depression of 2009-present, we're finding that perfectly good people now have trashed FICO scores because Corporate America chewed them up and spit them out and their credit got ruined during an extended period of unemployment.

We pretty much ignore FICO scores and credit ratings now, and focus on references, work history, and finances.

You need to find out if they're from good families. FICO doesn't tell you that.

THAT's what I'm sayin', Alan! Now you get it! Now you get why God invented co-op boards!

Forget FICO, I'd be looking for job and paycheck stability and then that the ratios of rent to income being in line.

>just send them a small housewarming gift (you should do that anyway. It works.)

Very thoughtful approach.

aboutready
about 13 hours ago
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Member since: Oct 2007
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Gee, I wonder if there is only one person named Alan Hart, or not, anywhere.
There are many, far too many, of you.

Hi Aboutready, how was your vacation?

Filled with Gaudi-inspired breadsticks. Sod off.

Were the gaudy breadsticks in the UK? I'm unfamiliar with Sod Off, but I assume you picked that up on a trip to the UK where they speak like that. It is a nice time of year there!

It's not hard to remember things you heard years ago.

FICO is often completely wrong. I've had bad debts added to my report because I have the same name and they want someplace to put them. Totally different ss number, obviously different person. My husband's uncle has his exact name (and it's very unusual) and had his license revoked for a DUI and it took me a week to sort it out so that we could get auto insurance. For once I agree with the troll, ratio of rent to income, and then in addition promptness of payments for most obligations over the past year or so.

Aboutready, when the bank rejected you, did they take your FICO score into account?

No. My FICO score was nearly perfect then. Nice try though.

"Forget FICO, I'd be looking for job and paycheck stability and then that the ratios of rent to income being in line."

PRECISELY, gotham.

We no longer rely on a faceless computer to evaluate the creditworthiness of a potential tenant; we do it ourselves.

aboutready
about 11 hours ago
Posts: 16183
Member since: Oct 2007
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No. My FICO score was nearly perfect then. Nice try though.

So if it wasn't your credit, which of the other 'c's was it? Character?

Aboutready? It must have been your character, right? You said the bank thought your husband owned the law firm, so that covers Collateral. That leaves us with Credit. Maybe they knew about the windfall you received at the expense of innocent middle and working class renters. Or something else, what could it be?

Tenant here...I'm actually curious about this topic. I have a slumlord for a landlord right now and while I don't like it, I may have to play her underhanded game to get back my security deposit, which will surely land me a poor reference. I know you can't really trust anyone on a message board saying they're a good tenant, but for the sake of my question, assume I'm telling the truth and that I'm a good tenant (pays rent on time, doesn't complain or hassle unless something is actually broken, clean, no parties, etc.) and that my landlord is the type of landlord that gives all landlords a bad name (doesn't make timely repairs or makes very cheap repairs that eventually break again and doesn't makes every decision as to whether you will get a repair/reimbursement based on the likelihood you will take her to housing court over it, etc.). This nameless landlord also has a reputation for being vindictive, even though she is in the wrong (raising rents only for those people who called 311 too often, etc.) so I am worried I will have a bad reference (I swear my calls to 311 were reasonable! No locks on the building door, no heat, no gas, certain repairs they hadn't fixed after 4 months of writing letters).

If you do take references into account, do you consider that the landlord might be lying and was the actual jerk in the situation? If someone has a bad reference, is there a way for them to explain their side? Thanks!